Thursday 24 October at 12:00pm

Title: Bacterial symbionts of humans and marine animals: Small-molecule-mediated interactions

Speaker: Mohamed Abou Donia, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco

Abstract: Multicellular organisms often live in a symbiotic relationship with various microbial partners. Surprisingly, microbial symbionts of different hosts use a common strategy of producing biologically active small molecules to establish and maintain their symbiotic relationship. During this talk, I will highlight two examples of symbioses that involve the production of small molecule natural products: the symbiosis between Cyanobacteria and marine tunicates and the symbiosis between Firmicutes and humans. In both cases, small molecules produced by bacterial symbionts not only mediate host-microbe interactions but also serve as potential leads for drug discovery, illustrating the direct effect of the environment on human health.

Host: Russell T. Hill, Ph.D.